Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
| Author | Bill Martin, Jr., John Archambault |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Lois Ehlert |
| Cover artist | Lois Ehlert |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | the alphabet |
| Genre | Children's picture book |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
|
Publication date
|
1989 |
| Pages | 36 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 19262991 |
| Followed by | Chicka, Chicka, 1, 2, 3 |
| Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Other Coconutty Songs | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Studio album by John Archambault and David Plummer | |
| Released | 1995 |
| Recorded | 1991-1992 |
| Genre | Children's music |
| Label | Youngheart Records |
| Producer | David Plummer & John Archambault |
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a bestselling American children's book written by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert, and published by Simon & Schuster in 1989. The book features anthropomorphized letters.
The 26 lower-case letters climb up a coconut tree in alphabetical order, until the tree bends so much, causing all 26 letters to fall out of the tree. The uppercase letters (the older relatives of the letters climbing the tree) come to help them. Again alphabetically, it describes each letter's injury, including:
At sunset, the letters "X", "Y" and "Z" are the "last to come" from the coconut tree. Later at night, the letter "A" gets up and climbs back up the coconut tree, dare(-)double(-)daring the other letters to catch him.
The book is notable for its rhyming structure which is reminiscent of the jazz vocal improvisation technique known as scat singing.
An audio book version is also available, narrated by Ray Charles.
A CD-ROM version was released in 1995 by Davidson and Simon & Schuster Interactive.
It inspired a 2004 sequel, Chicka, Chicka, 1, 2, 3. A board book for toddlers, entitled Chicka, Chicka ABC was published in 1990 and contains the first half of the full story, which ends up with all 26 letters falling out of the tree.
John Newbery's 1744 "A Little Pretty Pocket-Book" might have influenced Bill Martin's text for "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom":
Great E, F, and G,
Come here follow me,
And we will jump over
The Rosemary Tree.
(From A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, page 57)
In 1992, along with musician David Plummer, Archambault released an album composed of several songs based on the storybook, entitled Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Other Coconutty Songs. The album was named a 1992 "Notable Children’s Recording" by the American Library Association and in 1993, won a Parents' Choice Award.
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